About The Madeleine Brand Show

The Madeleine Brand Show, exclusively on 89.3 KPCC, 89.1 KUOR and 90.3 KVLA, captures the spirit of the West in a conversational, informal, witty style and examines the cultural issues people are buzzing about. Hosted by Madeleine Brand, and produced by Kristen Muller, Steve Proffitt and Sanden Totten, the show includes regular segments like Weird L.A. - highlighting a person, place or thing that you've never heard about, but probably should; Parenting on the Edge - a weekly discussion on the challenges and pitfalls of raising kids; as well as regular contributors like Luke Burbank, Rico Gagliano, Brendan Newnam and John Moe to help dissect culture, technology and business news.

A portion of the Inland Empire's vast warehousing sector as seen flying into LAX-Ontario International Airport.
Steven Cuevas
Interior of one of the Inland Empire's largest warehouse facilities, the 1.8 million square foot Skechers distribution center in Moreno Valley.
Steven Cuevas

To see how immense the warehousing industry is, just peer out the window of a jetliner. You’ll see a checkerboard of warehouses below, fanning out in all directions from where the Interstate 10 and 15 freeways meet in Ontario.

“This industry really started building out from downtown L.A. and the ports in the 1950s. In the ‘80s, it landed in Ontario,” said Inland Empire economist John Husing.

“Where the demand comes from is, international trade has exploded and 42 percent of all imported goods coming into the 50 states come in through L.A. and Long Beach.”

Warehousing is kind of seen as an economic tow truck hauling the Inland Empire out of the mire of the recession.

“It is the fastest growing part of our economic base,” said Husing.

“[Last] year, with the economy still failing, it’s up another 4400 jobs. From 2000 to 2007, it was more important than construction. So it’s hugely important to this region.”

But why the Inland Empire? Husing said there’s several answers. But here’s the most fundamental:

“Dirt. We have the ability to absorb very, very large facilities and that takes a lot of vacant land,” said Husing.

The same land that in the last century attracted waves of orange-growers and home builders is now attracting warehouses. But it takes more than dirt. It takes something extra, and Riverside investment banker Jamil Dada said the Inland Empire’s got that, too.

“Governments are friendlier; land is cheaper; traffic is not as bad,” explained Dada. “It’s easier to move the stuff from here to the other states, saving companies an hour and a half of traffic.”

The Inland Empire’s 380-million square feet of warehouse space is becoming the warehousing and distribution capital of North America.

“We are a logistics hub — too much so. We have an over-concentration and we pay prices for that,” said Kemp.

Warehousing is at the mercy of fluctuating fuel costs, a fickle global economy and fierce competition from other logistics hubs.

“When it’s doing well, we’re doing well. When it’s doing badly, we're doing badly. We have to find other industries to bring in balance that out,” said Kemp.

Warehousing in the Inland Empire offers high-paying jobs for people with advanced degrees in computer science or with knowledge of robotics. But the industry also has plenty of entry-level jobs that pay $12 an hour or more. Banker Dada, who also sits on the Riverside County Workforce Investment Board, said that’s pretty good.

“Better than retail and fast food restaurants, which is what so many local people are doing."

Beggars, he said, can’t be choosers.

“For lack of a better term, times are tough right now,” said Dada. “So any job is a good job.”